Baby not eating

Help...I was thrust into instant fatherhood(long story). I have 11 week old baby BP and one of them hasn't eaten anything in that time (I just got them) I feed them today and the 2 siblings ate but this lone baby won't eat...any suggestion:bow: heat mid/upper 80's hot end and lower 80's cool end 50-60% humidity. Left pinks in tonight I hope it eats...

Pete

Hi Pete,

I think you need to help her eat at this point. (11 wks w/ no food, correct?) Put a FT mouse or rat pup in the snake's mouth. She will squirm and resist, but don't fret. Once her little teeth are hooked on, step away and wait. She may spit the food out and you'll have to try again, but my experience has been that once their teeth are hooked they will swallow the prey item. May need to do this for a couple of feedings before she gets it. Much easier to do this if you have someone hold the snake while you open the mouth and insert the food.

Good luck!

I posted something very similar yesterday in BP Husbandry (also titled baby not eating). I ended up contacting my breeder and he suggested an assisted feed. I followed the directions for assisted feeding found in the sticky section of the BP Husbandry forum- very helpful, and I got him to eat the rat. Good luck!

Pinks are way too small for even hatchling ball pythons. It's difficult to interest a snake with a meal that is so small and barely moving. Have you tried live hopper mice? If you're feeding the other two pinkies as well, move them up to larger mice also, unless you're feeding several pinks per snake, they're not getting enough to eat. About the only thing pinkies are good for is force feeding because they're small enough to force down your snakes throat.

Thanks got them today!

OK.
Week 12 and no luck, so I took him to a friends house and he helped me assist feed, THANKS ERIC, worked like a champ...I hope he eats normal next feeding. HOpefully over the hump!!

Pete:banana:

Live mouse hoppers, 6 qt tub overnight(I cover the tub), works almost every time.
Hatchlings don't usually take to pinkies, they move too little.

Once I get 3 or 4 mouse hoppers/asf hoppers in them they usually switch to rat pinks and then fuzzies within weeks.

The heat should be between 88F-94F, more preferably 90F-93F with ambient temp at 80F, few degrees above that is fine. If the snake doesn't eat even after you do this, you will need to force feed it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MarkS

Pinks are way too small for even hatchling ball pythons. It's difficult to interest a snake with a meal that is so small and barely moving. Have you tried live hopper mice? If you're feeding the other two pinkies as well, move them up to larger mice also, unless you're feeding several pinks per snake, they're not getting enough to eat. About the only thing pinkies are good for is force feeding because they're small enough to force down your snakes throat.

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Do what the Leeetle Minion says.:D:D

Anyone looking for assist feeding instructions can check this thread out.
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...assist+feeding